Gartending: Cranberry Soused

by Warren

Klaus is a sporting lad. What I mean by this is that Klaus likes tromping through the cranberry bogs searching for these tart berries to pop into his mouth. He’s gotten rather adept at skimming along the surface of the cranberry bog, his little flask filled with rye whiskey. Rye Whiskey you say? Why rye? Klaus will explain that of all the whiskies produced in our country, rye dates back to George Washington. George Washington distilled rye whiskey for his consumption with 60% rye, 35% corn, and 5% malted barley. This must have been a heady concoction given the predilection for strong intoxicants in the early days of our nation. Rye is historic, like Thanksgiving!

Rye whiskey reminds Klaus of the Old Country, where he rose out of the soil and joined the legions of drinking gnomes around the world. His father watered the soil where Klaus popped up with rye whiskey!

Thanksgiving is coming all too soon. Then the rush to the Christmas holidays begins. Wouldn’t it be nice to have what Klaus has in his little ceramic flask? Would you like to know what he concocted using ingredients you have in your kitchen right now????

Do you have cranberry sauce? What’s that little can doing lurking in your pantry? Open it up and add 2 tablespoons of it to a cocktail shaker. How about that bottle of honey over there? Yes that’s the one. It’s all crystallized? Perfect. Just boil some water and add it to the honey, let it cool and pour it into the shaker. Did I see some apple cider in the fridge? Sure I did. It’s gone a bit fizzy. That’s exactly what this drink needs. Don’t have any fizzy cider? Try a hard cider from the supermarket beer isle. There are dozens of them available all over the globe. Pour a bit of that into the shaker too.

Of course the most important part, the part that Klaus values over all the other parts is the giggly part. The part that is intoxicating. And that is the rye whiskey! Isn’t it funny that Klaus, a little guy made of terra cotta would know the difference between “just a drink” and a well-balanced cocktail? I think you will immediately know the very moment this comes together. As I said, anyone can make it with ingredients that you have right now. Ok, you may have to buy a bottle of rye whiskey and you certainly have some apple cider in your fridge at this time of the year. These ingredients alone make a fine drink. But add some honey syrup and some cranberry sauce and you have a lovely refreshing slurp.